The Great Re-Onboarding

"I was onboarded when I started with the company several years ago. Why do I need to be re-onboarded and what does that mean?"

What is the great re-onboarding and how can it benefit my organization?

With the events that have unfolded over the past several years, many offices have moved to partially or fully remote roles. With this transition, employees are settling into a new set of rules and office etiquette, while trying to get a rhythm of working full-time in their own home office.

We're going to approach this conversation with a scenario.

Scenario: Jennifer’s Journey

Jennifer has just started her new job at a marketing agency on March 9th, 2020.

Exactly one week later, the company went fully remote. Since then, she's been working on her remote team and has been making the most of her new work environment. She's achieved her goals and completed the projects that she’s been working on and doing all the right things, but she's feeling a little anxious.

The company did not create her role to be remote, but considering the circumstances at the time, that’s where she landed. She hasn't connected with her colleagues since she hasn’t met her team face to face and she's feeling a little out of place.

Fast-forward to 2022, the organization has decided to go hybrid. Whatever that means. Jennifer didn't have much onboarding because she was thrown into the remote working world. She made adjustments just like everybody else and she was accommodating. Now, as the organization transitions to hybrid, Jennifer and her team have a million questions about what that will look like, and they're not sure where to start. They are the perfect examples of people who will need to go through re-onboarding

What can be learned from Jennifer's story?

Although you may have been working remotely since COVID in 2020, you need to re-align and re-set expectations of what work will look like moving forward. Permanent decisions are being made, and employees are assessing their options even with a recession looming.

For all of those employees feeling a little unsettled, the answer to ease their minds is what we, at Anchored Training, love to call the Great Re-Onboarding. We see re-onboarding as an opportunity for realignment and re-engagement of your employees. This isn’t revolutionary and we’re not reinventing the wheel. But, if we’re all honest with ourselves, it’s something we’re not good at doing.

I think we know that having a successful organization doesn't mean that you can onboard someone for 30, 60, or 90 days, then send them off and expect them to always feel like they understand their role during times of change. But we know you want them to feel like part of the team, organization, and culture.

2020 shifted how organizations functioned and what they prioritized. Now, leaders realize they need to prioritize their internal team and their culture before anything else. Why? Because at the end of the day, sales are important and customers are important, but it's your people that keep the ship running.

How many organizations were not remote before 2020, and didn't dream of having their team remote for two years or more? They made no plans or accommodations if that were to happen. And then, all of a sudden 2020 happened, and they scrambled to figure out how to do everything from a distance. And who stepped up? Their people. They stepped up to the plate, figured it out, and kept the company moving forward. Not customers, clients, or shareholders; their people, the core of their organization.

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My employees need this!

So at this point, you may be asking yourself, "How do I create a re-onboarding program?"

Well, friend, you're in luck! We created a re-onboarding roadmap, with recommendations and our steps to a successful re-onboarding program.

First things first You have to focus on human-to-human connections. Employees are missing the connection that may only be experienced in an in-person setting. We’re aware that an in-person setting for your re-onboarding isn’t going to be possible for each one of you. Be creative and think outside the box on how to design and deliver a successful re-onboarding program, one that focuses on the human-to-human connection.

Opportunities to connect.

In 2020 or 2021, some organizations may have seen that their values shifted. They focused so much on their customers and sales teams, but in reality, it was the entire employee base that kept the company afloat. So we need to communicate that to your employees.

Now is the time to plan a "Know Your Values" campaign, and get everybody excited again about what the company stands for! This is your chance to create opportunities for the team to connect and not always talk about work.

Keep in mind, that while there may be some opportunities to create these connection points outside of working hours, not everyone has the luxury of attending after-hours social events. They have families or loved ones that rely on them, and/or they need their personal time and their self-care time. Instead of creating connection opportunities outside of work, think of ways you can incorporate them into your core working hours. This could be an in-office team lunch break. Have a light lunch catered to the office and get your team to sit together and chat about the fun activities they are planning for the upcoming weekend. If the budget allows, consider it paid time to reward the team even further.

Your team wants to see the organization succeed, just as much as the shareholders and owners, but they also want and need to feel like they are part of the bigger picture and not just a number.

Changes to policies.

The next thing that you want to talk about is how policies have changed over the last two years. If you emailed updated policies, more than likely your team skimmed over it, and it didn't stick. This is a great opportunity to re-introduce those new policies in a fun and engaging way and reiterate the importance of the changes. TikTok SOPs, anyone??!!

Transparency with employees.

The third thing we recommend is being transparent with the organization. What is leadership talking about? Where do they see the future of your company in this new world that we're all facing? This is not the time to have closed-door conversations. Your employees need open doors, honesty, and transparency. These attributes are paramount to creating a culture where people feel like they belong.

Fun with employees via TikTok style.

Your re-onboarding program will not be successful if you don't take the time to think about and celebrate your employees. How do you make re-onboarding fun? We’re all about having fun and at Anchored Training, we’re also all about onboarding. We have extensive experience using different platforms to connect our team members with one another.

If you know the Anchored Training team, you know we love a good TikTok video. Why? TikTok-style videos for learning and development engage employees. For example, you can use TikTok videos to drip feed updates to policies. TikTok-style videos are a great tool to help supply a re-onboarding campaign that gets people excited to return to the office and stay long-term.

Interested in learning more about this whole re-onboarding thing and how it can benefit your company? Check out one of our past free webinars or book a complimentary consultation with us to gain customized advice on your reonboarding learning plans!